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Our family has been blessed with four beautiful babies. Our twin boys, Rhys and Bentley, were born in July 2008 at 23w5d gestation. Bentley developed an infection in the womb and was only with us for 13 hours after birth. Rhys spent five and a half long months in the NICU before coming home and he works very hard to continue to beat the odds.

Zoe Elizabeth was born in March 2010 at 36 weeks gestation. After 16 weeks of modified bedrest we were thrilled she was born healthy with no complications. She is full of drama and keeps us on our toes!

Our latest addition was a huge surprise - completely unexpected, but very much wanted. Beckett was born in July 2011 at 36.5 weeks gestation. His arrival marked three children in the house under three years of age. It's sure to be interesting around here!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

PT and Eye appointment

So I experimented a little this morning with Rhys. I usually let him sleep until just before I am ready to leave for PT. This gives me time to get myself ready, and his things together to get out the door and not be late. The problem with this is that Rhys does not eat immediately after getting up. He needs a good half hour to forty-five minutes before he is in the mood. The only time this rule does not apply is when he wakes up for his one feeding in the middle of the night. Yes, that's what I said, he still doesn't sleep through the night. But that doesn't surprise me given his eating habits. Actually, on the occasions he does sleep through the night that is one bottle he misses, thus decreasing his volume and caloric intake for the day. But I digress. When Rhys doesn't eat before PT he is a big ole fussy pants for his therapist, in large part because he is, you guessed it, hungry hungry hippo. As you can imagine it is hard to get your money's worth when the patient is red faced and screaming. So, today I got Rhys up when I woke up and let him sit in bed watching Charmed while I put my face on. It worked out so that when I was done getting ready he was ready to eat!

In addition to him eating before PT the therapist had also repainted his therapy room and tweaked the lighting. The room was previous a bright yellow with polka dots and was repainted a nice soothing green. Instead of the harsh overhead fluorescent lighting she brought in a lamp and turned the overheads off. When I told her Rhys truly didn't act so horrible for me she mentioned she'd been thinking about his behavior and thought he was probably over stimulated, thus the change in paint colors and lighting. The result? A happy baby boy who was laughing and smiling through the majority of the session. Woohoo!

Among other things, today we discussed Rhys's follow-ups with his various doctors. She asked about Rhys's eyes and whether he'd been seen by the ophthalmologist again. That reminded me it was time to make his one year follow-up with his eye doctor. So when I got home today I called not knowing how long it would take to get in. The conversation went something like this.

Me: Hi, I need to make an appointment for my son for a follow-up to see Dr. H.Receptionist: Are you a new patient?Me: No, my son was seen by her in the NICU and he needs his one year check up.Receptionist: Okay, the first opening is in June.Me: No problem, that's perfect, he is only nine and a half months old. But, I also have noticed that his left eye twitches a little and seems to turn slightly inward at times.Receptionist: Let me check, please hold. *holding... receptionist returns* I have an opening next Thursday.

Fantastic! Ugh, hopefully it is nothing. Actually, I am fairly certain this has nothing to do with Rhys being a preemie, and everything to do with the fact that his mom, Nonna and uncle all have a lazy left eye. But maybe the O2 aggravated it. My brother had to wear a patch when he was younger, so I am hoping that is all that Rhys will need (if anything at all). His eye isn't really that bad, but to me it is noticeable and I am pretty sure you have to fix these problems as infants. Truly though, I have no idea what the doctor will tell us, but she is fantastic so I am not worried about it.